Follow:

Find Something:

Search form

MUSÉE DES BLINDÉS - SAUMUR FRANCE

Advertisement

MUSEE DES BLINDES SAUMUR

Every so often we hit the road to hunt out the best tank museums in the world. This time, it’s Saumur in France.

Video of 32QH-xqr_9c

Format: Streaming Media

Duration: 6 minutes

Situated in the scenic Loire Valley in central France, Saumur’s Musée des Blindés, houses the French army’s cavalry & armoured warfare collection. The region alone is worth a visit – but it’s at the museum that a special treat awaits.

Housed in several large indoor gallery spaces are over 200 tanks, the vast majority are in running order & are regularly shown off to the public on various days of the year. A merry band of volunteers help the staff to restore & maintain the impressive collection.

Make no mistake, this is one of the very best tank museums in the world & its collection is stunning.

The highlights for us were the German World War Two vehicles that are all displayed in one main room. The King Tiger & Tiger are beautifully restored – the former even runs (occasionally). Added to that are a Luchs, Brumbar, Bergpanther & even various Marder conversions. There are other treats to look at too, like a pristine Sdkfz.251/7 pioneer halftrack.

Being a French museum, there’s the whole gamut of interesting US-supplied vehicles & French machines to feast your eyes on.

The good news is, there are plenty of other vehicles from the museum’s 600-strong stockpile of tanks dotted around the outdoor areas, so model makers especially, can soak up the details. And talking of model makers, there’s a fantastic annual model show that was the excuse for our visit. So check our video, see what you think & take a look at the museum’s Panther tank in action.